Method of making pillow cases

ABSTRACT

A pillow case formed from thin, non-woven fabric, initially taking the form of an elongated strip which is continuously fed, inwardly folded at its moving edges, then transversely cut whereupon glue is supplied to the edges of the resultant blank which is subsequently transversely folded to bring the glued edges into adherent relationship to form the finished pillow case.

United States Patent Purcell et al.

[is] 3,654,015 [451 Apr. 4, 1972 [54] METHOD OF MAKING PILLOW CASES 2,953,976 10/1960 Hahn ..156/311 x [72] Inventors: Rupert M. Purcell, 1310 Spencer Ave., et a1 "156/199 X asabuchi et al. ..83/353 X San Jose, Calif. 95125; David S. Bartlett, 442 841 12ll890 west 93/35 sierra Road, Route BOX 836, San JOSE, Calif- 95132 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 Filedi 1963 474,354 12/1952 Italy ..156/217 No France Primary Examiner-Benjamin A. Borchelt [52] [1.8. CI. ..156/217, 93/35, 156/204, Assistant Examiner-G. E. Montone 156/4421, 156/465 Attorney-Paul B. Fihe [51] Int. Cl ..B29d 23/10 [58] Field ofSearch ..156/217, 196, 199, 200, 203, [57] ABSTRACT 156/204 442']; 5/339; 83/353; A pillow case formed from thin, non-woven fabric, initially taking the form of an elongated strip which is continuously fed, inwardly folded at its moving edges, then transversely cut 1 References Cited whereupon glue is supplied to the edges of the resultant blank UNITED STATES PATENTS which is subsequently transversely folded to bring the glued edges into adherent relationship to form the finished pillow 2,265,075 12/1941 Knuetter ..156/203 X case. 2,685,550 8/1954 Corey 2,798,523 7/1957 Barrett 156/200 X 9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures ,28 3a 42 ZO lE-IEDINZI l msmwmq l ggfi 3O 36 jgf s Ff q 'E-ORIENTINZI R I g a F T F ED E I F-E S fgifl EJTTINXI l usurmq I QQ E STACKINGI 44- METHOD OF MAKING PILLOW CASES The present invention relates generally to enclosures and, more particularly, to pillow cases or similar articles and to the method of making or forming the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Most commonly, pillow cases are formed from cotton or other fabric cloth, appropriately stitchedat the edges to form the enclosure for the pillow itself. In addition to normal home use, pillow cases are used in hotels, trains, airplanes, buses, and other locations, each use being relatively short in time and requiring the thorough washing of the pillow case after each use for sanitation and general cleanliness purposes. The cost for such repetitive washing is considerable and time-consuming but existing pillow cases are too expensive to constitute throw-away items.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a general objective of the present invention to provide a pillow case of other similar enclosure which is formed from relatively inexpensive material by relatively inexpensive method, wherefore the resultant end product can, as a matter of economic feasibility, constitute a throw-away item. In accordance with such objective, the pillow case is formed from an integral piece of foldable material, such as thin non-woven fabric, which is centrally folded to bring narrow edge folds into abutting adherent relationship, thus to leave an opening for reception of a pillow in one end of the structure. In accordance with a closely related aspect of the invention, a number of the pillow cases are preferably formed in sequence by initially feeding a strip of the non-woven foldable fabric from a suitable roll and thereafter folding the outer most edges of the moving strip inwardly to form narrow edge folds on opposite edges of the strip. Subsequently, the strip is cut transversely to form pillow case blanks and adhesive is applied to the surfaces of both folded edges so that upon subsequent central transverse folding of the blank, such edges are brought into abutting and adherent relationship, thus to quite simply form each finished pillow case.

Although the invention will be subsequently described in more detail relative to the formation a a pillow case, it will be apparent that other enclosures can be formed by the same process and, in particular, it will be observed that other foldable materials, such as thin aluminum or steel foil material, cloth fabric, or the like, can be utilized to form a rectangular enclosure, such as a pillow case, or other enclosures of variant configuration, depending upon their ultimate uses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In order to understand more fully one embodiment of the invention providing for the formation of the throw-away pillow case, reference is made to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a pillow case embodying the invention,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary greatly enlarged sectional view, taken along line 22 of Fig. l, to illustrate structural details of a portion of the pillow case shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the steps of the method of formation of the pillow case illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT With initial reference to Fig. l, the illustrated pillow case in its finished form constitutes a single piece of non-woven fabric material which is folded centrally, as indicated at 12, to provide upper and lower sections 10a, 10b which have been inwardly folded along their edges to provide narrow edge folds 14a, 1412 that are in abutting relationship, as best shown in Fig. 2, and are joined by a suitable adhesive, such as glue, in-

dicated at 16, so that, in effect, three edges of the structure are enclosed but one end remains open for insertion of the pillow. With particular reference to Fig. 2, the surfaces of the edge folds 14a, 14b to which the glue is applied are located interiorly of the pillow case 10 so as not to interfere with its exterior appearance or its utilization.

In order to form a sequence of the described pillow cases in a rapid and inexpensive fashion, the method illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 3 is preferably employed. An elongated strip 5 of the non-woven fabric material is supplied in the form of a roll R mounted for turning on a suitable shaft to enable the strip S to be longitudinally and continuously fed therefrom, as indicated at 20, in the direction of the arrows A. The rolLsupporting shaft is mounted for lateral transverse motion and the edge of the strip is sensed, as indicated at 22, by suitable means, such as a standard vacuum sensing mechanism which, in turn, controls the transverse motion of the roll-supporting shaft insuring that the roll R is maintained at all times in the correct disposition to ultimately effect precise centering of the strip as it is fed through the subsequent operations, such centering step being indicated at 24.

Initially, the centered strip S is engaged at its exterior moving edges and folded inwardly, as shown at 26, the edge folds F on both sides being preferably about one half inch wide.

The non-woven fabric is thin and foldable to enable the described folding 26 to be performed quite easily. However, since the fabric is also generally flexible and of limited resiliency, it is preferred to exert a lateral tension across the strip, as indicated at 28. Such tensioning preferably can constitute part of the strip feeding step, a lateral tension being applied by the same mechanism utilized to advance the strip S. These steps combined with the prior centering 24 of the strip S assure that the folds F are of equal dimensions in spite of the flexibility and resiliency of the material.

In order to render such edge folds F of a permanent nature, heat is preferably applied thereto, as indicated at 30, together with pressure so that a creasing of the folds F is obtained. With ordinary non-woven rayon fabric, a temperature of approximately 800 F. is utilized but this temperature will obviously vary depending upon the precise type of material being handled and the rate of its movement. After the moving strip S is provided with the described edge folds F, it is cut at predetermined intervals in perpendicular relationship to the sides of the strip, as shown at 32, thus to provide a sequence of generally rectangular pillow case blanks B. Preferably, such cutting 32 is, itself, sequential, progressing from one side of the strip to the other, and since the strip is moving during the cutting operation, the cutting blade is angularly disposed relative to the direction of the strip motion so that the resultant cut edge of each blank B is perpendicular to the side edges. In this fashion, no interruption of the strip feeding is required and the overall process is expedited.

Since, during the cutting operation 32, some components of force transverse to the direction of travel of the strip S are encountered, the the resulting blank B may be slightly turned so as to be misoriented and preferably, as an additional step of the method, subsequent feeding and conveyance of the blanks is accompanying by an orienting step 34 which, in practice, can take the form of engaging the leading edge of the blank B immediately after the cut with a central conveying roller which moves at a speed somewhat in excess of that of the prior conveying means so as to effect a straightening and subsequent correct orienting of the blank.

The blank B, itself, is conveyed along substantially a continuation of the prior path of movement, and during such conveyance, glue of other ad adhesive material is applied to the exposed upper surfaces of the folded edges F, as indicated at 36, and immediately thereafter the blank B is centrally folded transversely of its direction of motion, as shown at 38, thus to bring the edge folds F having glue thereon into abutting relationship. The folded blank is then conveyed further and simultaneously its abutting edges are pressed into close engagement, as shown at 40, so that permanent adhesive contact of the glued edges is obtained. Thus, the folded and adhered blank is now enclosed on both side edges and its folded end edge but the remaining end remains open, allowing insertion of a pillow.

For production and shipping purposes, it is preferred to incorporate the additional step of re-orienting 42 the individual pillow cases and thereafter stacking the same, one on top of another, as shown at 44.

It will be apparent that both the structure and method can be modified for various purposes. As one example, the transverse fold 12 can be off-center thus to leave a flap at one end of the structure. Additionally, a third similar glue seam can be formed longitudinally of the structure so that two compartments or pockets rather than one will be formed in the finished enclosure. Furthermore, the edge folds 14a, 14b can be made wider and, if glued adjacent their edges, form an enclosure whose interior dimensions are greater.

Various additional modifications and/or alterations can obviously be envisioned without departing from the spirit of the invention and, as one example, the strip can be printed with suitable advertising, as desired by the ultimate consumer. Accordingly, the foregoing description of a specific embodiment of the invention in the form of a pillow case composed of nonwoven fabric and its method of formation is to be construed as purely exemplary, and the actual scope of the invention is to be indicated only by reference to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of forming an enclosure from a flat blank of non-woven fabric material which comprises the steps of inwardly folding opposite edges of the material blank to form two edge folds,

applying heat and pressure to the edge folds to render them permanent,

folding the blank along a transverse line relative to the edge folds to bring adjacent sections of both folded edges in abutting relation, and

joining the folded edge sections of the blank.

2. The method of forming an enclosure according to claim 1 wherein the folded edges are joined by the application of adhesive material thereto and the subsequent pressing of the folded edges with adhesive thereon into abutting contact.

3. The method of fonning an enclosure according to claim 1 wherein the material blank is substantially rectangular and is folded transversely to provide two superimposed substantially equal dimension sections,

only the side edges adjacent the transverse fold being folded and subsequently joined.

4. The method of forming pillow cases or the like from an elongated strip of foldable non-woven fabric material which comprises the steps of feeding the strip of material continuously from a supply roll,

folding the moving side edges of the strip as it advances to form a narrow flat fold at each of the opposite edges thereof,

applying heat and pressure to the edge folds to render them permanent,

cutting the advancing edge-folded strip transversely to form a blank,

applying the adhesive to the folded edges of the blank, and

folding the blank transversely to bring the adhesive edges into adherent contact.

5. The method of forming pillow cases of the like according to claim 4 which comprises automatically centering the strip delivered from the supply roll during the feeding step.

6. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 4 wherein the strip of material is cut angularly and sequentially in corresponding relation to advance of the strip whereby the resultant completed cut is substantially perpendicular to the side edges of the strip. 7. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 4 which comprises orienting the blank resultant from said cutting step.

8. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 4 which comprises orienting of the folded blank.

9. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 8 which comprises sequentially stacking the oriented folded blanks. 

1. The method of forming an enclosure from a flat blank of non-woven fabric material which comprises the steps of inwardly folding opposite edges of the material blank to form two edge folds, applying heat and pressure to the edge folds to render them permanent, folding the blank along a transverse line relative to the edge folds to bring adjacent sections of both folded edges in abutting relation, and joining the folded edge sections of the blank.
 2. The method of forming an enclosure according to claim l wherein the folded edges are joined by the application of adhesive material thereto and the subsequent pressing of the folded edges with adhesive thereon into abutting contact.
 3. The method of forming an enclosure according to claim 1 wherein the material blank is substantially rectangular and is folded transversely to provide two superimposed substantially equal dimension sections, only the side edges adjacent the transverse fold being folded and subsequently joined.
 4. The method of forming pillow cases or the like from an elongated strip of foldable non-wOven fabric material which comprises the steps of feeding the strip of material continuously from a supply roll, folding the moving side edges of the strip as it advances to form a narrow flat fold at each of the opposite edges thereof, applying heat and pressure to the edge folds to render them permanent, cutting the advancing edge-folded strip transversely to form a blank, applying the adhesive to the folded edges of the blank, and folding the blank transversely to bring the adhesive edges into adherent contact.
 5. The method of forming pillow cases of the like according to claim 4 which comprises automatically centering the strip delivered from the supply roll during the feeding step.
 6. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 4 wherein the strip of material is cut angularly and sequentially in corresponding relation to advance of the strip whereby the resultant completed cut is substantially perpendicular to the side edges of the strip.
 7. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 4 which comprises orienting the blank resultant from said cutting step.
 8. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 4 which comprises orienting of the folded blank.
 9. The method of forming pillow cases or the like according to claim 8 which comprises sequentially stacking the oriented folded blanks. 